All aboard! Big cities to get six hourly trains every way by 2020
By Sharon Kedmi
February 23, 2006
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/685191.html
By 2020 Israel Railways will have about 1,500 kilometers
(940 miles) of track, compared to about 700 kilometers at
present, and the trains will carry over 110 million passengers
annually. This according to the framework plan for the development
of the rail system for 2010-2020, with total projected costs of
NIS 30 billion.
Israel Railways' new framework plan includes several goals,
including the completion of the extensions to the rail network,
raising the quality of passenger service, increasing the potential
for cargo transport and the completion and renewal of railway
operations support systems - mobile equipment, the electrical
supply to the network, eliminating level crossings, etc.
The plan will be based on three alternatives prepared by Israel
Railways, Amy Metom Engineers & Consultants, a Haifa company,
and three foreign companies, D-Consult, AB Plan and IPPR.
Each of these alternatives, which are currently being examined
by Israel Railways, has a basic cost of NIS 9 billion.
Israel Railways' development plan for the next decade includes
new routes (NIS 16 billion), additional tracks on existing routes
(NIS 6.7 billion), support systems (NIS 6 billion) and systems
upgrades (NIS 1.3 billion).
Among the new routes of the plan are: Karmiel-Rosh Pina
(NIS 2.8 billion); Rosh Pina-Kiryat Shmonah (NIS 1.1 billion);
Afula-Nazareth (NIS 460 million); Nazareth-Tiberias (NIS 1.7
billion); Nevatim-Arad (NIS 1 billion); Dimona-Yeruham (NIS 300
million); connecting the Modi'in' track to the Jerusalem high-speed
track (NIS 100 million); Hadera-Afula (NIS 3.8 billion), and the
eastern line from Kfar Saba to Hadera (NIS 1.9 billion).
There are also plans for a fourth track along the Ayalon route,
at a cost of NIS 2 billion. This route is one of Israel Railways'
most important routes, and the additional track is designed to
relieve the bottleneck in this area. Additional track is also
planned for the coastal route by the way Herzliya and
Binyamina, at a cost of NIS 1.7 billion.
Israel Railways officials examined the proposed projects from
six angles: economic - cost versus efficiency; transportational -
encouraging the use of public transportation; spatial - providing
access to outlying areas; operational - the efficiency of the
network including reducing bottlenecks; financial - the profitability
of Israel Railways; timing - the possibility of implementing the
plan on time.
Each project was graded on its various aspects. The fourth
Ayalon track, for example, received top grades in four respects
(economic, transportational, operational and financial), meaning
that it is the most worthwhile track. Some of the tracks in
outlying areas, on the other hand, received the highest score
on one particular aspect, but much lower scores on the other
aspects. Other tracks that received high total scores are the
additional tracks between Lod and Rosh Ha'ayin, along the
coastal route and in Rishon Letzion.
For the first time, Israel Railways has prepared three groupings
of projects based on certain working assumptions: strengthening
the existing (central) system (Grouping A); developing the eastern
route (Grouping B) and extensions to the periphery (Grouping C).
One of these will serve as the foundation for the general
development plan.
The estimated cost of each grouping is NIS 9 billion, but there
are significant differences in the direction in which each would
lead the whole system. Thus, for example, the just seven towns
would be connected to the rail system in Grouping A, compared
to 21 in the other two groupings; on the other hand, some
35 million passengers a year would be added to the system
under Grouping A, versus 19 million in Grouping B and
16 million in Grouping C.
The total kilometers of additional track planned in each grouping
are also quite different - 480 in the central grouping; 720 in the
eastern grouping and 1,230 in the peripheral grouping.
The goals Israel Railways has set for itself concerning higher
quality service over the next decade are based on the size of
each city. The four big cities - Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa and
Be'er Sheva will have service increased to six trains every hour
in every direction. The 11 cities with over 100,000 residents will
have four trains per hour, towns with 50,000-100,000 residents
will have two trains per hour and smaller cities, with 25,000-50,000
residents, will have one train per hour in each direction.
The train passenger forecast for 2010 is 65 million, compared to
27 million in 2005, and Israel Railways hopes to be able to
accommodate an additional 35 million passengers per year by
2020. Israel Railways' target for increased cargo transport is
13 million tons per year by 2020, from the current 8 million tons.
Meanwhile, the Finance and Transportation Ministries are
reviewing Israel Railways' upgraded development plans for
2008, which have an unprecedented budget of NIS 30 billion,
50 percent more than the original NIS 20 billion plan, for work to
be completed by 2011.